More than a third of the American public suspects that federal officials assisted in the 9/11 terrorist attacks
or took no action to stop them so the United States could go to war in the Middle East, according to a new Scripps Howard/Ohio
University poll.

The national survey of 1,010 adults also found that anger against the federal government is at record
levels, with 54 percent saying they "personally are more angry" at the government than they used to be.

Here's the poll's pertinent
question:

There are also accusations being made following the 9/11
terrorist attack. One of these is:

People in the federal government either assisted in the 9/11 attacks or took no
action to stop the attacks because they wanted to United States to go to war in the Middle East.

Very likelySomewhat likelyNot likelyDon't know

16%20%59%5%

Widespread
resentment and alienation toward the national government appears to be fueling a growing acceptance of conspiracy theories
about the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Suspicions that the 9/11 attacks were "an inside
job" — the common phrase used by conspiracy theorists on the Internet — quickly have become nearly as popular
as decades-old conspiracy theories that the federal government was responsible for President John F. Kennedy's assassination
and that it has covered up proof of space aliens.

Seventy percent of people who give credence to these theories also
say they've become angrier with the federal government than they used to be.

Thirty-six percent of respondents overall
said it is "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that federal officials either participated in the attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon or took no action to stop them "because they wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East."

"One
out of three sounds high, but that may very well be right," said Lee Hamilton, former vice chairman of the National Commission
on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also called the 9/11 commission.) His congressionally appointed investigation
concluded that federal officials bungled their attempts to prevent, but did not participate in, the attacks by al Qaeda five
years ago...

A Scripps Howard News Service/Ohio University poll
taken from July 6 to 24, 2006 concluded that “more than a third [36 percent] of the American public suspects that federal
officials assisted in the 9/11 terrorist attacks or took no action to stop them, so that the United States could go to war
in the Middle East.” The poll also found that “16 percent of Americans speculate that secretly planted explosives,
not burning passenger jets, were the real reason the massive twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed.”

A poll done by the Zogby polling organization two
months earlier, between May 12 and 16, 2006, and using questions worded somewhat differently, suggested even more strongly
that the issue could become a “big one” if aggressively publicized. This poll concluded that 42 percent of
Americans believed there had indeed been a cover-up of the true events of 9/11, and an additional 10 percent of Americans
were “unsure.” The co-author of the poll, W. David Kubiak, stated that, “despite years of relentless
media promotion, whitewash, and 9/11 Commission propaganda, the official 9/11 story still can’t even muster 50 percent
popular support.” ...

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What the 9/11 Commission pointed out was that there was failure to connect
the dots before the September 11 attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: Forty-one percent of Americans say the
Clinton administration deserves a great deal or a moderate amount of blame for the 9/11 attacks. The older you are, the less
likely you are to blame the Bush administration, and the more likely you are to blame the Clinton administration.

Americans
under 30 are the 9/11 generation. Fifty-five of them blame the Bush administration for 9/11. Only 30 percent blame the Clinton
administration. The 9/11 generation is likely to have less vivid memories of the 1990s, when many of them were children. Some
of their criticism of President Bush may be driven by opposition to the war in Iraq. Americans under 30 are the least supportive
of that war. Their generation is doing most of the fighting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: The views of the 9/11
generation are likely to matter most for a simple reason. They will be around for a long time -- Wolf.